Making mistakes and learning from them(i)

If you live life long enough, you’ll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you’ll be a better person. It’s how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit – William Clinton

One of the things about being human is that we come into the world as a blank canvas. Apart from the natural instincts, many things are learnt and developed. We tend to pick up almost every other thing from our immediate environment, things like friendship, religious beliefs, values, character, reactions, the list goes on.

Interestingly, it seems like there is a lot of emphasis on preventing mistakes or completely ignoring the mistakes and a lot less on how to rise above a mistake, when you make it. While it is good to prevent mistakes and better to learn from other people’s mistakes, the fact remains that, You are human. it is inevitable that at some point in your life especially in your teen years, that you will make a bad call, this could vary from keeping a grudge, pulling an offensive prank, making a mean comment, or mixing with the wrong crowd.

Realise that your mistakes and failures are gifts, gems, guideposts in your learning and growth as a person. Take the necessary corrections and looks at ways to redeem the situation where you can. It is never easy to admit you’ve made a mistake, but it’s a crucial step in learning, growing, and improving yourself.

There are quite a number of lessons to learn from mistakes made. You learn about intergrity, taking on responsibility and taking on feedback. The feedback we get from our mistakes can be the most specific, and powerful feedback we’ll ever get. Many times we can trace mistakes to recurring patterns of belief or behavior—things we do, say, and think over and over again. When we spot and change a habit we may find that other areas of our lives change for the better. One way to gain maximum benefit from mistakes is to examine them through asking ourselves some questions: “How can I use this experience?”; “What will I do differently next time?

Admitting the truth increases our capacity to change. It is like holding up a mirror to ourselves and really seeing, this allows us concentrate on learning and growing.

Personally, one interesting lesson I have learnt over the years from making mistakes is that it teaches us to clarify what we really want and how we want to live. Remember that, while, You can’t change mistakes, but you can choose how to respond to them.

P.S: I know this is not the typical easy posts, but I recall being a teenager and realizing whenever I had made a mistake or mistakes, my typical reaction would be to deflect, ignore or simply wish it away. Now I know better and I will love that you learn from this as well.

Have a beautiful summer Holiday

Lots of Love